


Bet on your life

by NewLondon



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Casino AU, M/M, bc when I looked at Sorey's new outfit I couldn't contain myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 07:24:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewLondon/pseuds/NewLondon
Summary: He lifted his right hand to palm the new, turquoise choker around his neck, a simple but unmistakable claim that Mikleo put upon him in front of hundreds of their customers. The message was clear to all witnesses: ‘Fuck with him and you’ll have to go through me’.Casino AU





	Bet on your life

**Author's Note:**

> The only warning I'm giving you guys is that I've never been in a casino and I know only 2 kinds of card play and neither of them is suitable for betting (I'm boring girl, okay? I'd rather stay home under my fluffy blanket than go among drunk ppl) so be warned, I've no idea how things actually work XD

“Care to play another game?” he asked, while he skill-fully shuffled the cards in his hands. His smile was like a shark’s, ready to devour anybody in his way. It was so unlike his usual self, but then again, in this place there was nothing that could stop him.

Well, apart from one person.

Sorey looked languidly around his table, some customers there sharing worried glances amongst each other, other’s seething with poorly contained rage in their seat. He could clearly distinguish who would play another game and who would hurriedly leave the table to lick their wounds and pride in a safe place where their money wouldn’t magically vanish before them.

As these people left there places and new customers started to fill up the empty chairs, Sorey could feel eyes glaring at the him. He discreetly looked from the corner of his eyes at the man. He was dressed in fine clothes - not that anybody here wouldn’t be - but his suit clearly screamed ‘I have money and I’m not afraid to use it’ in a kind of obnoxious way. He hated these kind of characters, they were more often than not amateurs with anger management issues. Plus their ego was so high that when (and it was always a when, not an if, Sorey smiled to himself) they lost he could hear those delicate cracks from several metres over.

He slowly lifted his eyes from the man to take a look around. There was no empty place, instead smug faces were seen all around. Those people who were here the last couple of rounds looked positively sick with anger or regret but Sorey paid them no mind.

This was his playground, and he was just about to show it to them.

The game went according to plan. He let some newcomer win the first round just to lull them into some false sense of security. And then he started his massacre.

He’d never lost a game in his life.

His smile never lost the edge, even more so when Ego-Man 224.0 finally cracked and with a loud bang of hands he left the game. Sorey, used to these kind of display, didn’t even flinch but the security men’s gaze locked on him in an instant. He shook his head, signalling them to stand down. This was a normal occurrence in his book.

The game resumed as per usual although some of the customer’s face started to show some remorse and regret about their situation. Sorey couldn’t blame them, honestly. At least half of those normin tokens were in front of him, clearly signalling his superiority in the games. But while he was clearly in favour of winning (again), there was one man who held onto his tokens like they were his lifeline. He was skilled, Sorey admitted and a little annoying too. He was confident, Sorey could see it and he was determined to beat him.

He had a fox-like face with long brownish hair and a rather disgusting smile. He was finely dressed in his light brown suit, wearing what appeared to be a gold watch. While Sorey had nowhere enough knowledge about fashion items - he let that be his husband’s expertise - he wasn’t so blind as to not see that the man was filthy rich even when the man was reluctant to show his wealth through his clothing.

Sorey looked down at himself for a quick second. His team used the same technique this man did. Their clothes were colourful, often not even matching but still maintaining a feeling as if these clothes were meant to be worn together. Only Zaveid could achieve such thing. Sorey’s own clothing were quite simple; a black shirt with a red waistcoat, grey trousers, a white tie with flower patterns and his new favourite black gloves and hat. His jacket had been discarded somewhere around the casino a while ago. 

Sorey realised quite belatedly that he had never seen this man before and while new people weren't unheard of, once someone found success in games, they tend to stick to their original place. And this man was good. He quickly looked around to see if his friends are nearby but neither Lailah nor Zaveid were in his vicinity.

He sighed. Not that he was scared of losing, no. It was just a nagging feeling he got from that man whenever their gazes met and the Fox-Face 1.0 smiled at him.

It unnerved him in a way few things could nowadays.

A few rounds later he started to get worried for real. The other customers were watching with keen eyes, clearly enjoying the game before them. Some of them were long out of the game yet they remained to see whether the uncrowned champion would be finally dethroned. Sorey thought he even saw someone placing bets on who would win.

The game had entered into its final stage and Sorey admitted with no pleasure that they were dead even. Whoever won this round would win the whole thing.

He pulled his hat down a little bit to shield his eyes, as his husband had repeatedly told him that while he could hide his emotions on his face, his eyes would always show his thoughts. As he was about to place his bet for this final round, the whole casino had stopped dead around him. The music, the chattering stopped all at once, while everyone’s eyes had snapped to look at something (or someone) behind Sorey.

Sorey could feel the cool breeze move the feather on his hat and he recognised unmistakable presence at his back. White gloved hands were on his shoulders a second later, slowly inching towards his neck. His shirt was left wide open there and those delicate hands moved under his shirt in an instant, touching his chest while cool lips met with his own in a languid kiss.

Mikleo pulled away with the elegance of a cat but Sorey could feel the cutting edges in his movements. His husband was truly a miracle. His knee long boots were black high heeled ones, paired with white trousers and shirt. He was wearing a long white jacket, adorned with turquoise patterns all over it. His hair was free from its usual bindings, beautiful white wavy hair with their blue tips were graciously falling over his shoulders. Mikleo was smirking, violet eyes dancing with myth, like he knew something Sorey didn’t.

Which was usually the case, but still.

Sorey could no longer fight his urge to stay neutral, he smiled at his husband openly. Mikleo hadn’t moved from his initial position of behind Sorey’s couch but he withdrew his hands from his chest, instead placed them securely but loosely around Sorey’s shoulders. Mikleo's back was arched as he leaned on his elbows to bear his weight. Sorey almost let out a whimper.

“Hey Mikleo, long time no see”, he said cheerfully, not giving any attention to the game or Fox-Face anymore. “What brings you down to here?”

Although he couldn’t see it, he could feel Mikleo’s shrug. “I just wanted to see how you were fairing.” he smirked.

Ha, as if. Mikleo claimed that these games weren’t to his tastes so he never came down. Unless he had a very good reason.

And Sorey potentially losing his first game in his whole life might have been a good enough reason in Sorey’s eyes, but that’s not how Mikleo operated. Something must have been amiss and with Mikleo here, Sorey finally saw the clues hiding in plain sight.

As if sensing that Sorey figured out the answer to his own silent question, Mikleo leaned impossibly close to Sorey. His breath was cool on Sorey’s hot skin, white hair falling as a curtain around them as Mikleo whispered into his ear; “Eliminate him.”

And who was he to question a literal angel’s command?

Sorey could feel a smirk creeping up on his face while his eyes met meaningfully with his husband’s. Mikleo must have liked the expression on Sorey’s face because he huffed, smile still present on his face, then he turned around, white jacket practically flowing around him and he was gone just as quickly as he appeared.

He lifted his right hand to palm the new, turquoise choker around his neck, a simple but unmistakable claim that Mikleo put upon him in front of hundreds of their customers. The message was clear to all witnesses: ‘Fuck with him and you’ll have to go through me’.

Mikleo rarely graced the casino with his presence but when he did, a promise of murder was always left behind. He was quite merciless, rumours said, when it came to his husband's continued existence.

Not that Sorey was in need of any protection, he was quite talented with his hands but while this message might seem as a warning to anyone present, keen eyes would quickly realise whose this message was really meant to be.

Sorey lifted his eyes to look at Fox-Face. He looked collected outwardly but the tension in his shoulders were unmistakable.

Now, Sorey was a honourable man. He disliked cheating but when the situation called upon it, he never held back. His tricks were practically nonexistent to anybody whose eyes were not trained enough to see the small hints here and there. Not even five minutes later, Fox-Face threw his hands up in defeat. With a frown he stood up then as he was walking away he said; “Your win. For now.”

A challenge, a threat. He discreetly motioned for the guards to follow this man, though he thought it was all for naught. Fox-Face would not get himself caught so easily. Lifting his head he saw Lailah looking at him intensely, no question that she came closer to Sorey when she sensed Mikleo’s presence. Zaveid was nearby too, next to a russian roulette in the left corner of the casino but his smile was strained, eyes always on the lookout.

Sorey knew Eizen was here somewhere too with his little sister Edna, but while he spotted Edna in the right corner of the building looking bored, Eizen was nowhere to be found. If so, then he must be with Mikleo, which brought immense relief to Sorey.

He stood up from his couch, clapped his hands to gather the attention of the players of the previous game and smiled at them. “Thank you all for your time! Please, enjoy your stay and see you tomorrow!” With that, he gathered the tokens in front of him, put them into his case then walked towards the back door which Mikleo used earlier.

A hand shot out to stop him and a light, feminine voice said, “Is everything alright, Mr. Shepherd?”

Ah, Lady Alisha Diphda, Sorey thought. She was a patron of their place and while they knew her for years now, she still didn’t know about certain… shady businesses of theirs. Better kept it like that.

“Nothing to worry about, Lady Alisha,” Sorey smiled pleasantly, “You know Mikleo, he’s spontaneous.” Which could not be a bigger lie but at least Alisha looked relieved at hearing that.

“Then it’s good to hear. I was worried there was something wrong when your husband appeared!”. She giggled, “Please tell him I said hello and that his suit was absolutely lovely today.”

Sorey nodded and waved her goodbye, then turned towards the door.

Once through, he tossed the case to a servant to take care of and then beelined to the library on the third floor of the building. Pushing some specific hidden buttons on various shelves, a door appeared and with it an elevator. The elevator took him down to the hidden quarters of home. While this building was a casino for the first three floors and a hotel for another thirty, the basement with many hidden escapes and entrances were designed to their teams need.

Quickly walking towards his rooms, he noted how silent everything was with all of his team being up in the casino.

Arriving to the door, he found it unlocked which on any other night he would have labelled it playful, but not tonight. His fears were quickly evaporated when he saw Mikleo perched upon their bed, wearing only Sorey’s blue shirt. He was on his stomach, reading a book with his back and perfect bottom at Sorey’s display. He locked the door behind himself and Sorey felt all of tonight’s tension leave his body at once when he haphazardly discarded his stiff clothes, hat falling unceremoniously to the top of his clothes.

He only left his trousers, choker and gloves on.

He carefully climbed up onto the bed and above Mikleo, trying not disturb his husband from his readings when he lowered himself onto Mikleo’s back. Mikleo usually complained about how heavy Sorey was but they both knew it was just all pretence and that Mikleo actually loved it.

Sorey’s front was burning where it was in contact with Mikleo’s body, he lifted one of his gloved hand to swipe away those silky white locks of hair to gain access to his husband’s perfect neck. He felt Mikleo let out a soft sigh when his mouth started to trace kisses along his neck to his ear.

“Who was he?”

“Now now, Sorey. It’s not okay to ask after another man when you’re in our bed.” Mikleo huffed with false anger. Sorey pouted.

“Mikleooooo.” When he feigned ignorance, Sorey started to place his hands on both sides of Mikleo. Mikleo became tense like a wire under his hands but before Sorey could tickle him into confession Mikleo turned under him and hooked his legs around Sorey’s waist.

“Sparrowfeather,” was all he said. Sorey went rigid but before he could voice his concern Mikleo continued, “He was taken care of. Although not sure if he was acting open orders from their guild or from someone independent.” Sorey arched one is his brow at that statement but knowing he was out of his depth with all of this assassination talk, he instead put his mouth to a better use.

They kissed for several minutes when Sorey spoke again, “How did you know his identity?”

Mikleo puffed out his chest, his eyes was shining with pride when he remarked, “I just knew”, he smiled.

Sorey buried his face between Mikleo’s neck, “Takes one to know one.”

“Exactly. See, you’re catching up. Looks like you’re not that much of a doofus.”

Sorey smiled and placed a kiss on Mikleo’s shoulder. “When your husband of four years is an assassin, you have to learn how to see the hints scattered across the scenes.”

“Indeed.” Mikleo kissed Sorey again, arms around his shoulders, pulling him in more and more.

When both of them was sated, Sorey asked tiredly, “Sleep?” It was a long day.

“Sleep.” Mikleo’s smile was blinding.

Another danger averted, they had all the time in the world to do whatever they wanted when they woke up, Sorey reasoned. Even though, all the things he’d ever wanted was right here in his arms, safe tucked in, breathing slowly, smile ever present on his face.

Yeah, Sorey thought. Marrying with an assassin was the single greatest decision of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> bc whenever I think of a casino it's either P5 or Assassin AU. And I needed more badass Sorey and Mikleo in my life, so I thought, why not? This here is the result. I just might write a second chapter for this fic, we'll see *shurgs*
> 
> All the mistakes are mine, they're now my officially adopted children. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! :)


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